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Episode 5: Skirmish at Hegrel III
Star Trek: This Mortal Coil – Episode 5: Skirmish at Hegrel III Commander Do'harra, Lt. Adrija Garanath, Lt. Oswald Fitzpatrick, Lt. Rizo Boyik, and Security Ensign Miles beam down to a cave near Hegrel III's surface with Ujil Ni Dil, a Hegrellan scout, who escorts the away team on an hours-long trek through winding caverns, during which they are attacked by a cave worm but suffer no serious injuries. Once in Hegrella, the capital city of Hegrel III, the away team is openly stared at by the natives, who have never before encountered non-Hegrellans. They are led to the Hegrellan Council at the center of town; the Council meets atop a flat stone dais, in full view of any citizens who care to watch—and the crowd for this meeting is quite vast. During the meeting, the Tesla is attacked in orbit by an arriving Tholian scout ship. At the time of the attack, Karag Na Vab and Lt. Cmdr. Cal Phillips are aboard Na Vab's warp ship, which is also attacked; Phillips dies in the attack, and Na Vab absorbs Phillips' memories just prior to the two of them being beamed off the warp ship, which promptly explodes. Both are taken to sickbay, with security personnel watching Na Vab carefully, by Bentham's order. The Tesla takes significant damage and Na Vab successfully persuades Tirak to let him go to Engineering and aid in the repairs; Na Vab's quick action, made possible by the knowledge he acquired from Phillips' memories, saves the Tesla. Meanwhile, in Hegrella, the Hegrellan Council inquires extensively about the nature of the Federation and the greater galactic community, but the away team is informed of the battle in orbit and hikes back to the beamout spot, cutting the negotiations short. The Hegrellans make it clear that they won't make a decision regarding Federation membership until their people have as much information on the Federation, other species, and non-Federation powers as possible, at which point a vote will be taken—a process that could take months. Once back aboard the Tesla, Do'harra learns about the battle—and the death of his friend Phillips—as well as Na Vab's inexplicable prowess in resolving the multiple technical failures in engineering. Do'harra and some of his senior staff find Karag Na Vab in the engineering briefing room, where he is overcome with emotion—more so after seeing Do'harra. He explains that members of his species are trained to telepathically inherit all the memories of a nearby dying individual. They can accurately sense the moment of death as it comes and reflexively begin the process, without thinking about it. Na Vab is undergoing even more mental and emotional stress than the process usually entails due to the violent nature of Phillips' death and the fact that he is not Hegrellan. After getting permission from the relevant authorities on Hegrel III, Do'harra promotes Na Vab to the temporary field commission of acting chief engineer. Do'harra then contacts Starbase 244 and informs Admiral Hendrick of the attack. Hendrick dispatches the [[U.S.S. Andromeda|U.S.S. Andromeda]] to patrol for Tholians. Once the ship is ready to get underweigh again, Do'harra leaves behind a science team led by Lt. Boyik, with the goal of remaining at Hegrel III for an extended period as a cultural and scientific exchange. ''Previous: Episode 4: Planet of the Pasty Guys – Next: Episode 6: The Markalian Incident''